Photo of captured soldiers

[Sulph8]

Hey everyone, I thought this photo might provide some military insight! :D
http://www.militaryphotos.net/media/11136_w.jpg

[rafaelcb]

Those guys (and the lady) are probaly having a hard time, but:

a) Once they are shown on TV, their lives are almost guaranteed. Otherwise there will be lots of questions after the war.

b) They are not officers or front-line trrops, just mechanical crew for a defence system. There is no information they know that is intresting to Irak, so I don't think they will suffer severe interrogation.

c) I also dont' think a rescue attempt will be tried unless very specific information about where they are is obtained. This is difficult, would put the POW's life at risk and probably the Deltas (or whoever would try it) are more needed somewhere else. The best way of getting the POW out of Irak is winning the war QUICKLY. Let's hope so.

Best regards,

Rafael

[Sulph8]

Good points.

[Ichhabe]

May I ask why you post those pictures?

What good is it to see them like that?

Did you consider that the relatives of the POW's can see this before they are notified?

[Kitsune]

I heard this one before...
Well I cannot speak for those relatives but... if my own brother was out there and taken prisoner I would want to know as soon as possible. Well I would ask the military why I had to see a picture in the internet first but...that would mean that the miltary should be faster not the net slower.

I think its not respectless to show them here...the whole world has seen them anyway.

But Hood is running this site. So his opinion about it should be heard (and heeded).

:|

[Sulph8]

I did take this factor into account. This is not mainstream media however and these pictures have already been shown around the world. I am not insensitive and if people here are uncomfortable or if hood says to, then I will take it down.

[Ichhabe]

Well Kitsune, be happy about the fact that you havent experienced that. It is a "battle" against time. And the military will in most cases lose that "battle" cause there is a journalist that has a deadline to work against.
My point is that as long as it is the military that has the responsability to inform, they, and only they are the one that should release the news first. I know that is not the facts these days with Internet and videophone and sattelite- and digital age. But journalists should respect that. Basta!

[Lobo]

One of them is from the Philipinnes. (Sorry the mispelling, we call them Filipinas in Spain ) and the TV there showed the images. The Spanish TV showed the mother watching the images of her son.

[Lobo]

I got the same picture slightly better.

http://personal.iddeo.es/jesusm0/cosasmias/foto5.jpg

[Jedi]

As I posted in the other thread dealing with images of the POWs, the DoD has asked that the media NOT show these pictures. Please be responsible and respectful of the families of all soldiers fighting in the sand box and refrain from posting these types of things.

Here is the official letter from the DoD: (The web version can be found here. (http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Mar2003/p03232003_p026-03.html))

PRESS ADVISORY from the United States Department of Defense

No. 026-P
PRESS ADVISORY March 23, 2003

Out of respect for the families and consistent with the
principles of the Geneva Conventions:

1) We request news organizations not air or publish recognizable
images or audio recordings that identify POWs. Additionally, we
request you not use their names, first or last, or their unit
until next-of-kin notification is complete. We are working hard
to reach their families. We will notify you as soon as this is
done.

2) We repeat standing policy that news organizations not air or
publish recognizable images of deceased members of the U.S.
military or use their names, first or last, or their unit, until
next-of-kin notification is completed or 72 hours. We are
working hard to reach their families. We will notify you as
soon as this is done.

[hood]

Yeah, I think it's reasonable to hold off for a couple of days on this. We (in the US anyway) owe these guys for part of our freedom, we can give them this much.

[Sulph8]

Ok Hood, I think its probably best you just delete this thread now :)

[hood]

nah, because people will see the thread and see what's been written which is good. I'm very easy going when it comes to censorship and I will do a lot before I resort to it. No hard feelings. :)

[Sulph8]

:o But people will see that barbie and take me to be a fool!!! :o
My reputation will be ruined! I will be out on the streets, looking for generous message boards, feeding on non-military scum talk! cant you see, peoples lives are on the line here man!!!

(Yes, I am aware of a slight air of exaggeration in what I just said)

[Lobo]

They have identified some of those POWs already.

Medias and the Internet makes the spread of information an unstopable thing. Anyway I think as not being citizen from the U.S.A. I keep a certain "emotional" distances with those images of POWs and corpses. But I can remember myself feeling outrage when watching local TV news and they show images of dead people. I always think about their relatives. I remember years ago a terrible accident in a coal mine. 21 workers died and a young TV journalist approached one of the members of the rescue team. His face was dark due to the coal. His look was beyond all I could explain in words. The bodies of his work mates had been recovered and that journalist put the microphone in front of him and asked "How do you feel?" :fork:

[GazB]

They have stopped showing pictures of captured American personel here on TV (they didn't at any time show pictures of those killed).
Normally I would say this was the right thing to do, but then I think back to Media coverage of Chechnia... where american reporters went to great lengths to find dead russian bodies to film, and even now footage of lines of Iraqis surrendering fill our screens.

Is this really about respect and the Geneva convention or is it just another aspect of the propaganda war that the US has to win by hook or by crook?

[Jedi]

I don't see how on Earth you can even make this comparison. You are saying that showing Iraqi soldiers with their hands in the air, voluntarily surrendering to American troops is on the same level as showing American soldiers who have been killed or taken prisoner and beaten to near death?

I think the media has acted rather responsibly here. We are not seeing images of dead Iraqi soldiers, nor are we seeing images of soldiers who have been taken as POWs.

[hood]

Unfortunately that's not true. I had a big argument with a friend of mine who said the same thing, and then I showed him the 40+ photos that I saved from the various media outlets of dead Iraqi's, dead and injured Iraqi civilians, and US medics helping injured Iraqi soldiers and civilians. Only 1 or 2 had the faces pre-blurred out. The one with the father carrying his dead daughter with her foot mostly blown off isn't pretty, but was on at least 3 different sites. I think the worst thing about the US POW thing was that they executed those soldiers after they were captured and put in that room. There were no blood smear stains from dragging or carrying the bodies. They were shot in the head where they lay.

[robwarrior]

yes one of em is filipino american.

[warchild1/27scout]

remember,theres a difference between media getting a story and filming it and a state run media outlet like iraqi tv parading epw's on the screen and trying to force them to say stuff for propaganda.if you don't know the difference you probably believe the isrealis bombed the world trade center.some people will never get it.